CD Reviews

A nice trio album

12/04/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"mr. hurst ventures forth as a leader after very solid stints as bassist for wynton marsalis, branford marsalis, and the tonight show band. this album is a thoughtful, although not very experimental session. it is also a nice momento of kenny kirkland. the songs range from low burn burnout to sweet ballads. at times the trio seems a bit lost (eg. "incognegro") and the whole session suffers from a production flaw that makes elvin jones' drums sound like he wasn't even in the room with the other two and they simply pasted his parts over the top of mr. kirkland and mr. hurst. however, there are stellar moments. "jill of all trades," "innuendo in yo window," and "thad's blue plaid" shine as high moments of trio interaction. The feeling is defintely there, as well as the swing. these make the whole cd worth having. mr. hurst is a solid peformer, but compositionally he seems to need to grow."